mommyoffive Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) I thought we could have a master thread to talk about the New Tax Law impact for each of us. How are you fairing this year? I haven't gotten mine done yet. We just got all of our forms, but now the CPA's office is closed this whole week. So I will have to wait most likely 2 more weeks to find out. I am so nervous about it. We normally get a huge amount back. I will report back when we hear. Edited January 30, 2019 by mommyoffive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) We're ones that it gave more money to but it's weird. Dh made 11000 more but paid 1000 less in federal taxes and we are getting a sizeable refund. Ours are simple as well - one W2 and forms for student loan, mortgage, and our HSA. ETA: We have never owed and always get some kind of refund but this was the first year the taxes paid in went down so much while income increased so much. Edited January 30, 2019 by Joker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 I'm anxious about what ours will be. Last year was the first year we owed in a long time -- we used to get a decent refund. I have no idea how this year will play out. (Our taxes are never straightforward-- DH is considered self-employed/minister, and there's so much in the balance with housing allowance and deductions that affect it...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 9 minutes ago, Joker said: We're ones that it gave more money to but it's weird. Dh made 11000 more but paid 1000 less in federal taxes and we are getting a sizeable refund. Ours are simple as well - one W2 and forms for student loan, mortgage, and our HSA. ETA: We have never owed and always get some kind of refund but this was the first year the taxes paid in went down so much while income increased so much. Wow, that is odd. Do you have young kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Just now, mommyoffive said: Wow, that is odd. Do you have young kids? One is 16 and one is 19. We never received the child tax credit because our income was too high but did this year since the cap was raised. That's the only thing I saw was different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Well, you all see my thread. It is just awful and we had absolutely no idea this was coming. 😞 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 minute ago, Joker said: One is 16 and one is 19. We never received the child tax credit because our income was too high but did this year since the cap was raised. That's the only thing I saw was different. That must be it. I never really understood taxes before and now this makes it even more complicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 minute ago, Attolia said: Well, you all see my thread. It is just awful and we had absolutely no idea this was coming. 😞 I am really really sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) I haven't started ours yet. I'm still waiting for our mortgage statement which should have been here already. Also, dh got a corrected W-2 in the mail saying he should discard the first one, so I'm glad I wasn't able to start yet. We haven't had any changes so if there's an impact on us it should be obvious. Ours is pretty simple with no deductions and we don't have a state income tax. I'll come back to this thread after I've done our taxes. ETA: Oops, we did have extra income from FIL's death last year. The inheritance wasn't nearly enough to report but we might be taxed on the income from the sale of his house and I don't know if his stocks count as inheritance or income. Everything was split 4 ways among the siblings but even if we had gotten all of it, it wouldn't reach the amount that counts as inheritance income. Edited January 30, 2019 by Lady Florida. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 I filed our taxes last week. We are benefiting from the changes quite a bit. It is kind of ridiculous the amount of money we are getting. Our effective tax rate went from roughly -5% to -15%. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Our net tax rate was fairly close. Ours are really simple - 1 income, small student loan deduction, no itemization, with 3 kids (one will be aging out of the child tax credit 2019 but still eligible for 2018). There were so many changes that I am not sure what to think about the changes. DH's income went up a few thousand due to a bonus and a change from all 401k deposits to some being put in Roth. Tax due more than doubled due to loss of exemptions. Tax rate increased 2% on taxable income. Earned Income Credit went down almost 50% (I'm assuming due to increased income; I don't think the rules/eligibilty/etc changed on that credit). Increase in child tax credit made up the difference in loss of EIC. Our effective tax rate increased approximately .8% from last year (-10% to -9%). It could be due to our being in the phase out area of the EIC due to increase in income, but I don't know how much is due to increase in income/decrease in EIC or if it's loss of exemptions/etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 11 minutes ago, happysmileylady said: When we sold FIL’s house, it was considered inheritance funds. The estate wasn’t closed until after the house sold. Thanks. The estate isn't actually closed yet because executor BIL has to take care of its taxes. I'm not even sure how we handle that if part of it will stretch into 2019. We're expecting some more money some time this year when everything is finally closed out. I'm thinking we might want to see our finance guy this year and let him do our taxes just to make sure we don't mess it up. We see him for retirement planning but he also does taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 We got quite a bit more back. It wasn’t what I expected at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 2 minutes ago, Heatherwith4 said: We got quite a bit more back. It wasn’t what I expected at all. Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 22 minutes ago, hjffkj said: I filed our taxes last week. We are benefiting from the changes quite a bit. It is kind of ridiculous the amount of money we are getting. Our effective tax rate went from roughly -5% to -15%. How awesome!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 38 minutes ago, hjffkj said: I filed our taxes last week. We are benefiting from the changes quite a bit. It is kind of ridiculous the amount of money we are getting. Our effective tax rate went from roughly -5% to -15%. Our percentage changed quite a bit (although not as dramatic as yours) but the actual numbers really aren't that much different. I think it's just a game on how they are calculating them rather than tax rate really changing that dramatically. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) We are doing much better. Dh has seen a small increase in his paycheck so I was worried enough wasn’t taken out but we are getting our biggest refund ever. The the child tax credit for my younger two and the education credits for my college kids bring us down to paying almost nothing. I checked it over several times but it is all pretty straightforward. We definitely fell into a middle class group that was helped. Edit: I understand the AOC is not new this year. We have claimed it before. Just commenting that those credits brought us way down. The tax rate cut, increased standard deduction, and the increased child tax credit for the younger two are what made the difference. I know it didn’t help many people but with our particular income and circumstances we did much better. Sorry for those who did not 🙁 Edited January 30, 2019 by teachermom2834 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 1 hour ago, cjzimmer1 said: Our percentage changed quite a bit (although not as dramatic as yours) but the actual numbers really aren't that much different. I think it's just a game on how they are calculating them rather than tax rate really changing that dramatically. Ours did change quite dramatically. But not as dramatically as -10%. I was quite shocked with our return amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 2 hours ago, Lady Florida. said: Thanks. The estate isn't actually closed yet because executor BIL has to take care of its taxes. I'm not even sure how we handle that if part of it will stretch into 2019. We're expecting some more money some time this year when everything is finally closed out. I'm thinking we might want to see our finance guy this year and let him do our taxes just to make sure we don't mess it up. We see him for retirement planning but he also does taxes. Yes, I'd go to a professional to make sure. I did our taxes for years, but of late there have been too many questions and a need for accountability. It isn't cheap, but mine usually finds something I hadn't considered. I'm surprised that they already distributed some of the proceeds because most estates wait until it's completely closed out. There are cases where they don't do that, but usually they wait just to make sure the taxes are covered. The estate should pay the taxes on itself, not you. Unless your state laws require, and inheritance is not taxable income. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 21 hours ago, hjffkj said: I filed our taxes last week. We are benefiting from the changes quite a bit. It is kind of ridiculous the amount of money we are getting. Our effective tax rate went from roughly -5% to -15%. So does this mean you have a negative tax rate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 (edited) nm...thought better of oversharing. Edited January 31, 2019 by teachermom2834 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 On 1/31/2019 at 6:03 AM, Bambam said: So does this mean you have a negative tax rate? Yes, it means rather than paying income taxes, her family receives money from refundable credits. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 We owe less than I predicted because I wasn't factoring in my business expenses. We knew we would owe this year. The loss of the personal exemptions will hurt us when our oldest child ages out of the child tax credit in the 2020 tax year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerico Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 I dropped off our paperwork at the CPA today and now I am anxiously waiting! I think this year will be different anyways because it's our first full year as self-employed/ministry. We have owed state taxes the last two years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I'm not a fan from a philosophical/public good standpoint, but from a personal standpoint it benefited us quite a bit. We got several thousand dollars more back this year due to some new rules. However, we live in a low property area, with a homestead exemption that lowers them even more, and we have no state income tax. I'm well aware that if we were in a different state we'd have a different tune to sing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 My DH switched jobs mid-year and had double Social Security taken out as a result. But even subtracting that, the refund seems unusually high given that we lost all our itemized deductions and personal exemptions. The big change I can think of to explain it is that usually we get hit with the AMT and that no longer exists. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdj2027 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 We pretty much got the same as always. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Yay for all the good news!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonflower Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Ours looks like it will be cut in half, or maybe a bit less. The pass-through for sole proprietorship and the increased threshold and amount for child tax credits (we have 7 kids) is significant for us. Also we made less money - not as good during the year, but nice at tax time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 We’re paying more at both the federal and state level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 3 hours ago, mommyoffive said: Yay for all the good news!!!! As long as you’re ok with the new record federal deficit, it’s all good. 6 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) I’m not sure how to interpret our tax bill. We never owe b/c we lose money (on paper) for a rental home that we own. We also bought a new home and moved twice. Fortunately, military moving expenses are still deductible. We typically claimed A LOT in charitable deductions since we move and purge so often but those contributions are no longer deductible. It’s hard to say. We’ve never lived in a high sales/property tax state and I understand those folks are being hit VERY hard. According to DH, his peers are getting an extra 5k back on top of what we are getting but who knows what their tax situations are. Maybe they have more kids or higher deductible interest payments? Edited February 13, 2019 by Sneezyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 DH and I both claim married 0 dependents on our paychecks so that they take the max out, and we still owe. Overall, we are paying more in taxes now. I am irritated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) We will be paying about the same amount as we would normally get back, about a $7000 difference. Only change was no longer being able to claim one child. We're not happy about it. Edited February 13, 2019 by wilrunner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, Frances said: As long as you’re ok with the new record federal deficit, it’s all good. Yeah I don't agree with things going on. Wow, it is all over the place. Sorry to everyone who the tax changes are not good for. Edited February 13, 2019 by mommyoffive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertechmom Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 BUrned. Absolutely nothing can be claimed anymore such as our business expenses and other things we were able to claim to help with the tax burden. And we lost 2 children completely with the new law and the child tax increase didn't help. Our income is just enough that I will need to cut my hours back this year to fall back under the income line. I work a part time job and a even less part time job (still not full time between the two) and when that second job was added, our tax amount jumped 2500 dollars. So I'm working to pay taxes and health insurance. So I wont' be working as much this year All of the sales people in sales that we know lost 15,000 to 20,000 in expenses that they could claim last year but not this year. Not good for my circle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 28 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: Wow, it is all over the place. Sorry to everyone who the tax changes are not good for. I think tax refunds would be all over the place as withholding change last year. The year we had our biggest refund was due to withholding too much and not because we were taxed less. We are waiting for the tax form from Morgan Stanley (as my husband gets stocks options as part of his pay package) so we haven’t filed yet. So can’t tell exactly what the effect is going to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 I read that the I.R.S. said that the average refund so far this filing season is down about 8% compared to the last tax year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 We neither owe or get back much. My dh makes sure it comes out fairly even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonflower Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 2 hours ago, Supertechmom said: BUrned. Absolutely nothing can be claimed anymore such as our business expenses and other things we were able to claim to help with the tax burden. And we lost 2 children completely with the new law and the child tax increase didn't help. Our income is just enough that I will need to cut my hours back this year to fall back under the income line. I work a part time job and a even less part time job (still not full time between the two) and when that second job was added, our tax amount jumped 2500 dollars. So I'm working to pay taxes and health insurance. So I wont' be working as much this year All of the sales people in sales that we know lost 15,000 to 20,000 in expenses that they could claim last year but not this year. Not good for my circle. Why can't you claim business expenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 I don't understand why anyone would look at the refund you received when comparing years. You should look at the amount owed this year compared to last year. They changed the withholding table so even those that are getting a smaller refund or owe more, could very well owe less this year than last year. It just means that your paychecks were a little bigger. 12 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootsie Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 20 minutes ago, moonflower said: Why can't you claim business expenses? Employees can no longer deduct unreimbursed business expenses. Previously unreimbursed expenses (e.g. tools necessary for your job, uniforms, mileage) that exceeded 2% of your income could be itemized. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonflower Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Oh, I'm sorry, I was thinking of it as a business owner and business expenses. Yes, that is hard if you're footing a lot of the bill for your job! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 1 hour ago, shawthorne44 said: I don't understand why anyone would look at the refund you received when comparing years. You should look at the amount owed this year compared to last year. They changed the withholding table so even those that are getting a smaller refund or owe more, could very well owe less this year than last year. It just means that your paychecks were a little bigger. Yes, they were saying that was happening a lot on the radio yesterday - people not realizing their withholdings changed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) On 2/13/2019 at 11:02 AM, shawthorne44 said: I don't understand why anyone would look at the refund you received when comparing years. You should look at the amount owed this year compared to last year. They changed the withholding table so even those that are getting a smaller refund or owe more, could very well owe less this year than last year. It just means that your paychecks were a little bigger. I think some people simply don’t understand how taxes and withholding work. Others understand but would rather get the money all at once, rather than a little bit each month, as they think they are more likely to save it or use it for a specific purpose. Edited March 3, 2019 by Frances 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 2 hours ago, shawthorne44 said: I don't understand why anyone would look at the refund you received when comparing years. You should look at the amount owed this year compared to last year. They changed the withholding table so even those that are getting a smaller refund or owe more, could very well owe less this year than last year. It just means that your paychecks were a little bigger. This isn't evening out for a lot of people. They may have gotten an extra $50-60 in their paychecks, but still have an increase up to twice that in taxes owed. Our taxes went up this year, but due to the credits being different, our refund is about the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 54 minutes ago, HomeAgain said: This isn't evening out for a lot of people. They may have gotten an extra $50-60 in their paychecks, but still have an increase up to twice that in taxes owed. Our taxes went up this year, but due to the credits being different, our refund is about the same. This is us. We thought we'd adjusted our withholding, but hadn't. Even so, the extra we received in our monthly paychecks isn't close to what we would have normally received for our refund. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertechmom Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 1 hour ago, wilrunner said: This is us. We thought we'd adjusted our withholding, but hadn't. Even so, the extra we received in our monthly paychecks isn't close to what we would have normally received for our refund. Yep....what we had withheld and what tiny amount extra came our way through the year doesn't match up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Our tax program tells us exactly how much we paid in taxes for the year, so withholding vs refund vs owing doesn't really enter into it. We try to keep our refund as low as possible in any case and would rather owe. I think our withholding system is actually pretty dumb and the government should send everyone a tax bill or check at the end of the year because confiscating money ahead of time seems like a really good way to obfuscate what people are actually paying in taxes and it makes them feel good about overpaying in taxes all year long if they get a refund. I mean, there are people I know who would actually prefer to overpay as some sort of weird non-interest-earning savings plan. 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarlaB Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 We are getting a $5K refund and 100% shocked. Last year, we had 35% lower income and only got $1K back (and that was heavy depreciation). THis year, 2018, our businesses grew and we fully expected to be paying a hefty chunk (we are not paying quarterly). We are about as far from simple & standard taxation as you can get- self employed (4 small businesses) and our businesses grew roughly 35% last year. Our accountant is a tax Lawyer/CPA combo who specializes in small business. We are astounded. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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